I have to admit, when the Toronto Blue Jays gave right-handed pitcher Dylan Cease a seven-year deal worth $210 million last offseason, I had a little trepidation.

I was nervous about the idea of giving a seven-year deal to a pitcher who would pitch the entire season at 30 years old, with a contract that runs through his age 36 season. I was also nervous about giving $210 million to a pitcher who has led the American League in walks twice, and and nearly led it a third time.

I was also nervous, in a roundabout way, that Cease had been so durable in his career. Heading into this season, Cease had five seasons straight of 30 starts or more, so I was worried about all the buildup on his arm and how that might manifest itself down the line.

However, I come to you hat in hand, to say that I was wrong. It doesn't mean that injury or poor performance will never rear its ugly head, but for 2026, Cease has been everything that the Blue Jays paid for - and more.

He's gone 7-5 with a 2.42 ERA. He started the All-Star Game and may very well win the Cy Young in the American League too. He leads the American League in FIP (2.36), hits/9 (5.7), homers/9 (0.6), and strikeouts/9 (13.1). 

While he's still prone to bouts of wildness at times, he's excelled at limiting contact in general, but especially hard contact. He now has six consecutive seasons of 200 strikeouts or more on his resume. That's historically good.

As the old saying goes "you can give up walks, or you can give up hits, but you can't give up both." And Cease has followed that mantra to a "T" in 2026.

Now, moving forward, we'll have to see if Cease's season is "outlier good," or if he's truly found a sustainable way to deploy his arsenal that is exceptionally useful at limiting the amount of contact that he gives up over the course of a season.

The Jays were ranked as having the No. 22 farm system in the sport by MLB Pipeline in its most recent reveal on Sunday. Toronto has two Top 100 prospects in infielder JoJo Parker and right-handed pitcher Nolan Perry.

Remember, the Jays traded away Top 100 prospect Arjun Nimmala in the trade deadline deal that brought Jose Soriano to Toronto.